A good technical jacket that shows Mountain Hardwear is trying to get it right in the snowboard market, but there are still aspects that need to be worked on to bring the jackets in line with current snowboard trends.

The Pipedream is a Mountain Hardwear foray into the snowboard market. As might be expected from Mountain Hardwear, the jacket is technically superior in many ways, from its taped construction to the waterproof/breathable fabric used. The Pipedream has quite a few additions to help market the Hardwear brand towards the snowboarding populace; the media pocket is one such welcome addition.

At 10,000ft, on a windy, snowy day, you couldn’t ask for a much better shell. The material does an excellent job of cutting the wind, making cold windy days not so cold, or windy.

Unfortunately for us, Hardwear still hasn’t built a jacket that really feels like a snowboard jacket. The cut just isn’t quite right, the powder skirt feels high, and the fabric feels stiff. The pockets are set high on the jacket, which makes them pretty much unusable. That said, it is better than some of MH’s previous attempts, and hopefully this means they’ll keep getting better.